Regretful woman looking at many shopping bags on the couchOne of the things that probably annoys vendors online more than anything is buyers remorse, that is those people who buy all and sundry on their credit/debit card then realise they can’t afford it and promptly demand a refund. I’m not talking about serial refunders here, just those folks who genuinely can’t afford what they’ve bought then panic.

I have to say at this point, I don’t  have a problem with people wanting a refund if the product they have bought from me doesn’t suit their needs, after all, that’s why we offer a money back guarantee and I certainly don’t want folks to buy my stuff if they are using their rent or grocery money. I’m also not talking about those who try it out and decide it’s not for them, (don’t have a problem with that either)..

It’s not even the hassle of having to login, find transaction ID’s (folks rarely send them in for some weird reason when requesting a refund), I just wish people would think twice before they buy something. online then promptly regret doing so…

What bothers me is the negative effect it can have on your paypal/clickbank or whatever payment processor you are using.

3rd party payment processors don’t like refunds and if you start to get a lot they get antsy which can often lead to accounts being limited or even terminated.  (It’s every marketer’s nightmare), and to be honest it’s one of the big reasons why I don’t like hype when selling anything online.

Yes it’s lovely getting all those paypal payments dropping into your inbox but those tickets requesting a refund mainly because customers fell for the spin you created can be pretty daunting and why I don’t like to use a lot of hype or spin on my sales pages.

So I thought I’d look at a few ways and means of reducing future refunds from prospective customers. 

Vendors

Don’t hype up your product, I know a lot of marketer’s don’t agree with me here, many of them rely on folks buying then forgetting they bought, I know many folks have a ton of  stuff on their harddrive they intended to use at some point, (most of us do)!  I’ve had a number of customers who bought EMP years ago email me and ask if their unused licenses are still valid. (they are BTW)

Don’t offer a solution in a box or push button solutions (They don’t really exist), IM is hard work and I like to emphasize whenever it’s possible this is so. Nothing wrong though in saying your solution will make life easier if it does so, a recent example of a product I think is fantastic and will save folks oodles of money was VideoFX

Customers

Don’t fall for the hype and spin, read through the lines and for heavens sake don’t be drawn in by the bombardment of emails you’ve  had from various marketers about a specific product

Having said the above, a lot of affiliate marketers offer some excellent bonuses if you buy through their link, I’ve even found in the past that it was worth buying something just to receive specific bonuses. But the caveat here is will you ever use those bonuses or will they just sit and clog up your hard drive. Don’t go for them if they are just shiny objects.

Before you click that buy button, read the sales page/watch the video carefully then get up and make yourself a cup of tea/coffee etc whilst you mull it over. You’ll find the buying frenzy you’ve been worked up will have dissipated somewhat and you can be a lot more objective as to whether you need it or not.

Don’t have your credit/debit card too close to you when sat at the computer though I guess that’s not much use if it’s a paypal transaction 🙁

Above all think my favorite mantra

Do I need it or just want it
Can I afford it
Is it essential to forwarding my business.

I’d love to hear anyone elses thoughts on how to avoid buyer’s remorse…


    5 replies to "Buyer’s remorse :-("

    • igor Griffiths

      Well hello Kim as someone who until recently had never asked for a refund I love what you say about not hyping up the solution.

      You can tell if you have fallen for an overly hyped product when your first reaction to opening the zip file or entering the site contains the exclamation, WTF!

      That was my first words when I realized what I had purchased but I stuck with it until I realized it did not do what it stated and then asked for my money back, thankfully the marketer lived up to his promise and its was indeed a no quibble refund.

      The one thing I would add to your mantra is the following,

      Can I see where I will use this in my business.

      If you cannot see this then you may attempt to distort your business to fit the tool which is never a great idea.

      igor
      igor Griffiths recently posted…I wish I was like…My Profile

    • Jim

      Kim,

      I know exactly what you mean. In a former life I created a product to do with horse racing (okay, it was a system that produced a high percentage of winners and had heritage over 12 years). It was sold via ClickBank to mailing lists of fellow enthusiasts and I must admit the sales made me ~$8,000 in three days.

      Great news.

      However, due to a high refund rate (which equated to around 20% of those purchased) ClickBank stopped my payment and put a hold on my account. I got the money eventually however when I asked individuals as to why they had refunded (most did within 5-7 days) the majority stated at first that the system didn’t work. This is despite me providing the selections via a daily email and over the first week, making even the smallest punter a decent profit (which covered the product price almost twice over).

      On further investigation the reasons you mention came more to the fore. It wasn’t about the product or its performance – more about the customer type buying it.

      Yes, there was some hype to the product, and I limited it to 400 copies (after which I stopped selling the product) but even so, it worked.

      Frustrated was not the word. But you live and learn, I guess.

      Speak soon.

      Jim

    • Elaine Summers

      Hi Kim
      Can honestly say that i have never asked for a refund, although have probably bought several programmes that took my fancy on reading the splash page and they sit in my downloads.
      However your mantra is a very good one will try and practice it when next presented with one.
      Cheers
      Elaine
      Elaine Summers recently posted…The Strange land of the Tweets and TwitterMy Profile

    • Hilbert

      Hi Kim,

      With such a great and valuable online vendor/marketer like you,
      I won’t think twice to buy from. The fact is, I purchased my Easy
      Member Pro from your site couple of months ago.

      I admired your blog content and products so much that I followed you eversince.

      Peace & love,
      Hilbert Lim
      http://hilbertlim.com/blog
      Hilbert recently posted…A Month Into My Journey: To “Internet Success”…My Profile

    • Kim

      Hi Hilbert

      My apologies for the late reply, I’ve not been online for a while due to a variety of reasons.

      Thank you for putting your trust in our membership software, I’d love to see your site when its finished

      Cheers
      Kim
      Kim recently posted…How much is enough…My Profile

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